Edge of Obsession (SKALS #3) by Adriana Noir Page B

pulled off his boots while she lingered uncertainly above him, her delicate features already starting to pinch with worry.
    “I didn’t mean to interrupt anything today.”
    “It’s fine. It was just bad timing. If you need to call me, call. End of story.”
    “I will . I just don’t want to cause you any problems at work, Seb.”
    After the day he’d just had, the thought was almost laughable. A poorly timed phone call was the least of his concerns. His stomach twisted as he replayed the conversation with Marx in his head. Blowing out a deep breath, he scrubbed a hand across his nape. The last thing he needed was to keep clinging to the rage and pressure the past nine hours had inspired.
    “ Don’t worry about my job,” he said. “Whatever happens there is my problem, not yours. Let me handle it, Taylor.”
    “ Okay.”
    “ Where did you go today?”
    “Just to the grocery store and we made a quick stop at the mall. I think you might like one of the things I bought, though. I tried to put at least some of that hard-earned money of yours to good use.”
    He fought the knowing smile that threatened. This was a much safer topic. For both of them. “Is that so?”
    “Mmm hmm.”
    Springing to his feet, he backed her across the room, pinning her against the front of the washer. Her back bowed with the force. Bracing her hands against the lid behind her, Taylor searched his eyes for understanding. Seizing her chin, Sebastian slanted his mouth across hers in hard, brutal claim. Her fingers sought purchase in his hair, but he grabbed her wrists and trapped them against the washer. Surging the hard lines of his body against hers in a seductive grind, he captured her earlobe between his teeth.
    “If it’s anything that is going to cover that hot little body of yours, I wouldn’t count on it making me happy,” he warned in a throaty growl.
    Taylor shifted beneath him, the gooseflesh covering her arms growing denser. “You’re thinking about it all wrong,” she said, attempting to squirm away from the rough scrape of stubble against her skin.
    “Am I now?” he asked, raising a brow.
    “Mmm hmm. You’re supposed to look at it as a bow. Something pretty to make th e package a little more decorative.”
    He traced the swell of her breast , his touch pensive. “I am not a patient man, Taylor. Pretty wrapping only tends to get torn. That said, I’m sure I will take great pleasure in seeing what tonight holds.”
    She shivered and splayed her hands against his chest. If the gesture was meant to ward him off, it failed. Her pout sent a rush of blood straight to his groin, and he battled with the urge to tear her clothes right then and there to prove his point. Nothing would ever compare to the exquisite grip of her body or her husky cries when he drove himself home. Nothing. Nothing measured up to her smile or the unconditional love she gave. He wanted it all, and he wanted it in spades.
    “ What if you don’t like it?” she whispered, toying with one of the buttons on his shirt.
    The action drew him back to the task on hand. A slow smile curved his lips as he hooked a finger under her jaw and tipped her face to his. “Then you are going to spend a very long night making things up to me.”
    Taylor lowered her eyes beneath his smoldering stare. “That sounds like a threat, Agent Baas.”
    “I don’t make threats, darling. That was a promise. One I am very much looking forward to carrying out.”
    “You’re setting me up to fail, and you haven’t even seen it yet!” she accused, batting his arm. “That’s not fair!”
    “Life isn’t fair, sweetheart,” he said, capturing her hands. “How long before dinner?”
    “It’s just about done. I’m starving,” Taylor admitted. “I should be good for a month after the huge lunch I had, but my tummy is already growling.”
    H e rubbed her abdomen, the remnants of his smile fading beneath a frown. “You’re not coming down with something again, are